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Jeremiah 31:1-6
Easter Day A
Illustration: Have you ever experienced a moment when time stood still? Maybe you were afraid to breathe for fear of breaking the magic of the moment. It’s the stuff of hospital bedsides – the passing on of death and the passing into life of birth. It’s the good news of a proposal, the announcement of…
Jeremiah 31:7-14
Christmas 2A
Commentary: A Bittersweet Moment The first Sunday of the new year can feel like a bittersweet time for people who have just prepared for Christmas—baking, hosting, buying, wrapping, sending—within an inch of their lives. I’m mindful of empty nesters whose homes were a little less empty. For families who rarely see one another traveling, being…
Jeremiah 23:1-6
Proper 29C
Commentary: This text thrives on a couple of significant contrasts: negligence vs. diligence and shepherd vs. king. Negligence and Diligence The first image this text offers us is of a shepherd who has become derelict in his responsibilities. Some texts translate the Hebrew to say he destroyed the flock. Robert Alter is content with a…
Jeremiah 14:7-10, 19-22
Proper 25C
Dialoguing with God This text—not just the parts chosen by our Lectionary editors but the whole chapter—offers a beautiful example of God and God’s people in relationship, dialoguing and talking out their differences. In this case (and, to be honest, most cases), their difference of opinion shows up over sin, over human failure to keep…
Jeremiah 31:27-34
Proper 24C
New Covenant For Christian readers, this Lectionary selection emerges out of Hebrew Scripture as though with giant flashing arrows and neon signs lighting up the name: “JESUS!” Here he is and here is the goal of his ministry laid out neatly before us. This notion of a “new covenant” is laid out and explained in…
Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7
Proper 23C
Pen Pal Jeremiah is a compendium of literary genres, as we have already seen a whiplash of sorts from a kind of poetic prophecy to narrative and now to letter. Those of us who read Hebrew Scripture along with the New Testament may not notice how strange it is to find an epistle embedded in…
Jeremiah 32:1-15
Proper 21C
“A Little Book of Consolation” For those who have been tracking in Jeremiah with me through this season of Lectionary readings, be warned! This week’s lectionary text switches from poetry to narrative and left me quite disoriented. How can both the apocalyptic lament and the story of a land purchase both be Jeremiah? Let me…
Jeremiah 8:18-9:1
Proper 20C
Illustration: The Emperor’s New Clothes is a wonderful parable for explaining the prophet’s task. The prophet is not the only person who knows or notices what is true. The prophet is the one who foregoes pretense and is unafraid to say the quiet part out loud. In the classic children’s story, it is a young…
Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28
Proper 19C
The Politics of Babylon Jeremiah is coming at God’s people with every attempt he can think of in hopes of stirring them out of complacency. The emotional appeals run the gamut: grief, anger, provocation, reasoning, coaxing. He sees the people jockeying for power, attempting alliances with this super-power and then another. He observes their systemic…
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